Questions about Surefire 6P and 6P LED

PocketLint said:

Hey folks,

Not posted here for a while. First, I've owned a Surefire 6P for about 6 months now. I carry it nonstop and love it. I however find myself replacing the batteries after what is probably only about 15 minutes of total use just to make sure I am "always ready". Is this normal?

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I don't think so.

PocketLint said:

Secondly, I do love the 6P but I hate the 60 minute runtime. Does anyone have a 6P LED who also has a 6P? How does the LED compare? I mainly carry the light for SD but I do think that it would be nice to use it a little too. I'm always afraid with my 6P that I may be using it too much to be blindingly "useful" when I need it.

Do I just go get a drop in LED for my current 6P? Do I buy a 6P LED?

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You can buy a P60L by itself. $39.
http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/0/prrfnbr/24502/P60L-LED-Assembly

PocketLint said:

I have read quite a bit within the "Drop In" sticky thread at the top of the LED forum too. However there are a ton of complicated terms and watts and volts and stuff that I don't understand. All I care about is getting good runtime. It seems a 6P LED will do this for me and still get between 70 and 80 lumens for at least a couple hours.

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I should have about 11 hours in it.

Got one of the 6P LED lights for Christmas. Works great!

Not as much throw as the TIR lights, but it can certainly hold its own. I like that it's regulated for around 2.5 hours.

For $39 the P60L module would give you the long-running LED and still have the ability to swap out for the regular P60 incan module.

if you always want to be "ready to go" and you are constantly dropping in fresh cells that aren't even used up you are wasting a huge amount of money.

Go rechargeable. Get a DereeLight P60 style drop-in designed for use with a 17670 cell, get an AW brand protected 17670 Li-Ion rechargeable cell, (or 2, so you have a spare), and a DSD charger.

This way instead of throwing away useful power, you can just "top off" at the end of every day if you want. Li-Ion cells can be charged up (toped off) at any time, no need for a complete discharge or anything.

If I may, three suggestions...

- search for threads on CPF and for other reviews on 123 cell run times for incan 6P's running the P60 so that you will have an idea of how long you can expect out of an average set of your brand of batteries. You might find some of this on web sites dealing with flashlight reviews rather than just on batteries.

- search for reviews of a few different LED modules in the price range that's comfortable for you.

- find a light that will suck the rest of the life out of the cells you've already rotated through so you are not throwing usable cells away.

Yes, rechargeables can give you guilt free power and they do not have to kill your bank account.

Yes, the sticky on 6P drop ins can be a bit much but try looking for a thread that explains the things you have a problem understanding or a thesaurus/abbreviations list thread.

The P60L will just drop in, like the P60. And it is good for runtime.